My first interaction with Spirituality

I was born in a slightly upper middle class TamBrahm family of the mid-70's in Tamil Nadu, when maintaining the identity was a challenge.  My dad (Appa) owned a restaurant in a mid-scale town and was a devout Hindu. Though Appa had challenging working hours, he would never step out without doing his daily prayers.  We used to live in a simple house, amidst a bunch of TamBrahm families (collectively called 'The Store' - no idea why), who became our extended family.  Even though Appa later bought our own home in the town, we never left 'The Store', a humble dwelling, as both our parents felt it was a safe and secure environment for the kids to grow.

My earliest memory of a prayer is of Appa chanting 'Kalyana roopaaya kalou janaanaam' from the Guruvaathapureesha Pancharatna Stotram.  Without fail, this means that the time is about 5:45 to 6 AM in the morning.  He would wake up early, have his bath in cold water (all round the year), do his Sandhya vandanam (daily mandatory prayers to be offered by an adult Brahmin male) quickly and chant the shlokas with the vibhuti (holy ash) smeared on his forehead and body and do namaskarams (prostrations) in front of the simple altar at home. Woken up by the Kalyana roopaaya being chanted in dad's heavy metal voice, most days, I would either look at him or at the Sri Ganesha picture at home as the first thing.  The lamp would be lit at the altar & a small cup of warm milk placed in front of the Gods.  It was a unique Ganesha image - one that had the Nava-grahas (nine planets) marked in various parts of Sri Ganesha's body and is clearly etched in my memory till date.  Amma still has it in her puja altar.  Appa used to do multiple namaskarams (prostrations) in front of the altar, as he used to chant Narayana Narayana that comes after every verse in the Guruvaathapureesha Pancharatna Stotram ... the naughty one I was, I used to wait for this moment and jump on his back and go up and down during this fun-like plank exercise.  Appa used to laugh at me lovingly as I used to do this .. I guess this was one way in which the Lord took me slowly in His fold, by blessing me with a good father and ensuring that I participated in the prayer process in some way.  

We were blessed to have a National Panasonic tape recorder at home, which was a luxury in those days and the next thing we would hear would be either Sri Venkatesha Suprabhatam or Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam in MS Amma's mellifluous voice.  Some days we would listen to the All India Radio, where they used to play songs by famous playback singers like P Susheela, TMS, SPB, Yesudoss, Nagore Haneefa etc singing multi-faith songs, which helped us build tolerance and respect for other faiths too.  Mostly, this is the time Appa used to have his morning filter-kaapi (filter coffee), the cult feature in every TamBrahm home of then and now !!

Once Appa rushes off to work by about 6:30 AM, my siblings would go to their school & I would chill at home, as I was still young.  I was a very naughty child, everyone in the neighborhood used to say; I would enter every household in 'The Store' and try to strike a conversation with people of all ages who had varied moods & temperaments !!  However, all such experiences played a key role in shaping my personality during the formative years ... Sri Ramaswamy Iyengar Thatha (grand-father), an elderly neighbour would apply a SriChoornam on my forehead, on the strict condition that I take a bath and come near him in the morning :-)  I would obey him quietly as it felt nice to have the SriChoornam (a thin-red vertical red vermilion line applied on the forehead by followers of Vishnu) on my forehead like an adult man ... then sit in their house and play around with his daughter, the loving Prema Akka (sister) while he did his daily nithyakarma Shaalagrama puja (daily prayers to a fossilized shell considering it as an iconic symbol and reminder of the Sri MahaVishnu) to their aathu Perumaal (Sri MahaVishnu), their family deity. Even though we were Tamil Iyers who followed Adi Shankara's Advaita School of Philosophy, my parents never objected to me having the SriChoornam as a child.  Such acts helped me firm up the fact later that Hari (Sri Vishnu) and Hara  (Sri Shiva) are One and The Same.

Evening was fun filled too as this is when I used to get to go out with Amma ... there was a Hanuman temple nearby which was more than a few centuries old with Sri Veera Anajaneya Swamy murthy and he was a Vara-Prasadi (giver of boons) - I think this is one of the many VyasaRaja installed Hanuman vigrahams.  There was a large pushkarini (tank (or) pond) behind the temple and it had 4 streets around it.  We lived in the northern side of the street in 'The Store'.  In the evenings, Amma followed a certain discipline, which she follows till date.  Between 5:30 to 6 PM, she would light the lamp in the puja altar at home and do a namaskaram to the Gods. Then, around 6:30 PM, she used to take a small cup of gingelly oil for adding to the lamp at the temple and hold me in 1 hand and off we go to see Hanuman.  

On the way, Amma would stop some days to buy a camphor piece at the Kaka shop, owned by an elderly fair n chubby Malabar Muslim gentleman with only a couple of teeth.  He was always kind to children and used to give his big smile when he saw me.  If I am lucky and well behaved, Amma might buy me a candy ... but only if I behaved !!  

Then, we would head to the small Ganesha temple first and do the dhorbhi-karanam (a simple yogic exercise) and chant a simple prayer.  Then we would go to see Sri Hanuman, where the priest (one Sri Kuppachar, a Madhwa or Telugu Brahmin) would do a simple harathi (waving of camphor) to Hanuman and Amma would request him to add the oil to the lamp at the temple.  Oil is a sign of prosperity, as Goddess Luckshmi resides in it.  Donating oil to temples to burn the lamps is said to bring good luck to the donor.  We would then go around the temple for a few pradakshinams (circambulation around the sancrum sanctorum), chant a shloka or two to help us focus, do our namaskaram (prostration) ... then sit in silence for a while meditating on the Lord and then come home for dinner.  Going to a temple daily helped kids like me to explore and make new friends !!

Coming to think of it, the 2 Gods I have mentioned in this post have become the dearest in my later years .. Sri Ganesha and Sri Hanuman.  And the strong foundation laid at an early age has helped me in following the bhakti path in my adult life.  

Few take away's from this post for me are :

1. lighting an oil lamp daily at the puja alter at home @ both dawn and dusk wards off negativity from our homes
2. playing/listening to or singing any kind of spiritual chants early in the mornings have a long lasting effect on the family members and it helps them to approach the day in a calm frame of mind
3. one should stick to a daily spiritual routine, come what may .. which means, a certain discipline needs to be followed

4. parents lead by example in the spiritual path - our children are nothing but mirrors who reflect what they see

5. have an inclusive environment, where multiple faiths co-exist ... so the children grow up respecting each others' faiths 
6. visiting a temple daily helps to calm one's mind ... this can be your daily spiritual routine too plus you might make new friends along the way

7. offer something to God daily with a selfless attitude.. God does not need anything from us, but strong faith and love .. but this selfless offering will help us become better human beings in the long run - I know of people who offer the naivedyam (offering) to needy people daily

More blogs coming soon on what has helped me and others I know .. 

until then .. 

Love and Peace to All !!